Shooting Star: Reversal or Trap?

A shooting star is a single-candle pattern that appears after an advance and shows the market reaching a price and then rejecting it.

What the pattern is

The candle opens, trades higher, and then sells off to close near its open. The result is a small body at the bottom of the range and a long upper wick. The lower wick is short or absent. This shape records a test of higher prices that failed within the same period.

What forms it

The pattern only carries weight when it follows a genuine upward move. Without that prior advance, the same shape is just another candle. The upper wick must be at least twice the length of the body, and there should be little or no lower wick. These proportions show that buyers pushed prices higher during the session but could not hold the gains.

What confirms it

A close below the body of the shooting star on the next candle is the confirmation traders watch for. That second candle proves sellers have taken control after the initial rejection. Without it, the shooting star remains unconfirmed and the advance may simply continue.

How it fails

The pattern fails when price does not follow through lower. If the next candle stays above the shooting-star body or immediately reverses higher, the rejection did not produce sustained selling pressure. In that case the signal is disregarded and the prior up-move remains intact.